


Other Land

by eriah211



Series: Other Land [1]
Category: Primeval
Genre: Divergent Timelines, Gen, Insecurity, Light Angst, Manipulation, Timeline Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 11:28:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 3,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10570371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eriah211/pseuds/eriah211
Summary: What if you could go back in time and change the things you didn't like? The old question is not so hypothetical since the anomalies started appearing...





	1. Farewell (Connor)

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Livejournal some years ago.  
> The first ficlet became a series, each one of the fics centered around one of the Primeval characters.  
> Thanks to the lovely fififolle for the beta and help, all remaining mistakes are mine.

 

He could feel his heart breaking as the ship was leaving the port. Everybody was cheering and waving the travellers goodbye and the entire city seemed to be in a festive mood, but he could hardly hold back his tears.

“We could have done something,” he said to the man by his side while he watched the huge shape of the ship getting smaller on the horizon.

Standing there in the crowd while the ship left had been almost physically painful. He had had to stop himself from running to the dock screaming for them to stop the engines, to wait for a day, for a few hours, for a few minutes even.

“You know we can’t do that,” the man replied. “It's too dangerous. Remember what the boss says: any interference in past events could have a huge effect on our present.”

“I know, I know: we are not supposed to play God,” he quoted with resignation. “We have had that discussion a hundred times already, but it doesn’t get any easier.”

They continued to go unnoticed among the crowd as it slowly dispersed, with their fatigues and modern equipment hidden under their borrowed dusty coats.

“I think it’s time to go back to the ARC,” the man said then. “There isn’t much more that we can do here anyway, we have lost him again.”

“OK,” he agreed reluctantly. He took a last look at the Titanic and then started walking away from the port. “But don’t hurry, Becker, I don’t think the boss will be very happy when she hears the report of the mission.”

“You bet! I would rather not be the one to tell Helen Cutter that her crazy ex-husband has given us the slip again,” Becker said. “Why don’t you tell her, Connor? You are her golden boy, after all, she won’t get angry at you.”

He shook his head in sadness. He wasn’t usually allowed to go to field missions and when he finally had convinced Helen Cutter to let him go through an anomaly he had lost the man they had been chasing and he had watched more than 1,500 people go to their deaths without moving a finger. He didn’t feel like a golden boy at all.

 

.


	2. The Puppet Master (Helen)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the lovely fififolle for the beta and help, all remaining mistakes are mine.

Helen Cutter saw Captain Becker and Connor’s contrite faces when they came into the ARC and she knew that Nick had managed to run away again.

She listened to Becker’s report with a calculated look of disappointment on her face and answered it with slightly cold comments about the lack of efficiency in the last missions and the importance of their work. She expressed her concern about the safety of Connor in the field and let a brief expression of relief and fondness cross her face when the young man reassured her that he hadn’t been in danger at all. They were so easy to manipulate, she thought, Connor always so eager for her approval and Becker so eager to show that he was worthy of his rank. She dismissed them quickly and went back to her office.

In the new ARC, the main office was still on the first floor, but it wasn’t a glass cage anymore because she didn’t like the lack of privacy. Helen had kept the name of the ARC, but she had changed slightly the design of the building, the same way she had done with rest of the elements of the old timeline that didn’t fit her plans. She had kept the useful and manageable pawns and scattered across the world the people who would make her life difficult.

It hadn’t been easy and every now and then she found signs of some collateral damage (the Millennium Wheel had never been built, for example, but she had always thought it was a monstrosity anyway), but no procedure was perfect. And this one had its advantages, she thought when she saw Stephen coming out of the armoury on the CCTV.

It had been a surprise to find an older looking Connor waiting for her one day in one of her safe places and it had been even more surprising to hear him talk about her theories and plans, the ones that nobody else knew about.

“You don’t have to do it!” Connor had said to her that day. “You won’t stop the destruction that way, it’s not Nick’s fault! Even if you kill him, nothing will change!”

She had to confess that she had been considering the idea of a definitive solution, but she couldn’t believe that she had, in some timeline or another, decided to finally go for that option. But she must have, proven by the fact that a Connor Temple from the future was there desperately begging her to change her mind. And it all had been for nothing, if she was to believe Connor’s words.

She had believed them and after she had distracted Connor long enough to run away, she had started a new plan, one that wouldn’t need to get anybody killed, at least not in the beginning. If she was in charge of the ARC, she could keep the team on a leash. If the ARC wasn’t a danger, Nick wouldn’t have to die. If he could just stay away and let her be... but her husband was nothing if not obstinate.

 

.


	3. Down the Rabbit Hole (Nick)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks muchly to fififolle for the beta, all remaining mistakes are mine.

 

It seemed appropriate to be here, Nick thought, now that his world was upside down. From where he stood on the river bank he watched the two men rowing along the river, and the three little girls who were enjoying their boat trip, on a sunny summer day of 1862, and wondered if that had really been the moment when everything had started, when Alice Liddell had asked for another story and Charles Dodgson, soon to be widely known as Lewis Carroll, had started building Wonderland word by word.  
  
If he could just know the exact moment when Helen had started building her own twisted world maybe he could go back and do something to stop it, but she was too smart and he hadn’t even seen it coming. One moment it was a random investigation of an anomaly and the next one half of the team was missing and nobody knew him. And after that it just got worse. Helen had twisted the reality enough to make him look like a dangerous crazy professor and to make him run away again and again while she ruled the ARC from the same office that had once belonged to Lester.  
  
It had been a bad time, a terrible time, but one day, while watching a sunset from a dirty alley where he was hiding, he had had an epiphany and had realised that two could play the same game.  
  
Nick had soon discovered that travelling through time and space thanks to the anomalies wasn’t easy, but he had learnt how to do it. It was just a matter of patience and precaution. And good luck, of course. Fortunately sometimes, like this one, he was able to take a break and catch his breath while enjoying a peaceful moment in History. He was careful though, he tried to interfere as little as possible during his travels. It wasn’t the right time for that, not yet.  
  
The worst part was the loneliness; Nick missed his friends’ company and support. He wondered if Helen had done it on purpose, if this was some kind of cruel game, to let him be the only one to remember how everything was before it all changed. He also wondered if she had already realised what a big mistake that had been.

 

.


	4. The Huntsman (Becker)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks muchly to fififolle for the beta, all remaining mistakes are mine.

 

It had taken Becker some time to identify the strange feeling he had sometimes while he was working in the ARC. At first he had thought it was just the nervousness caused by a new workplace and new responsibilities, but it hadn’t been that. Well, at least, not just that. After a few weeks, once he was used to the team and the installations, he still couldn’t shake off the feeling, it was a sensation that made him look over his shoulder now and then. Finally he recognised it, it was the same feeling that had seized him a few times in the field, when everything looked calm, but instinct screamed at him that it wasn’t safe.  
  
Becker had tried to shrug it off, to focus on his job, which was complicated enough without groundless fears. He knew people whispered about him being too young for the job, they had since he had been promoted to Captain, but he was ready to show everybody that he was capable of leading the ARC team.  
  
He was grateful to Helen Cutter for giving him this chance, Becker knew that she had specifically asked for him, but he sometimes wondered if she wasn’t already regretting that decision. Professor Cutter had managed to run away from his team more than a few times and she had made it perfectly clear from the start that the capture of his ex-husband was essential to the safety of the project.  
  
Talking about the devil, Becker thought, there she was. She had the ability to appear suddenly by your side when you least expected it, usually with a little smirk on her face.  
  
“Captain Becker, I would like to talk to you, if you have a moment.”  
  
“Of course, ma’am,” he answered.  
  
He straightened his back and focused on Helen Cutter’s words, ignoring the annoying feeling that was creeping over him again.

 

.


	5. Far, Far Away (Jenny)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much to fififolle for the beta, all remaining mistakes and incoherences are mine.

 

“Gei ni qian, xie xie.” Jenny Lewis gave the money to the taxi driver and asked him to carry the drunken businessmen back to their hotel.  
  
Jenny knew she should be very happy with her job at the British embassy in Beijing, but she hated the hot summers of China and she was tired of dealing with impatient businessmen who didn’t care enough to learn at least the basics of the language and the culture of the country they were trying to do business in.  
  
Working inside the embassy wasn’t too bad, even considering how small the office she had been assigned was, because the air-conditioning made up for the lack of space. Unfortunately, she usually had to go out and about to work as a mediator, translator or taxi driver for the newcomers to the country of business opportunities and she wasn’t used to such hot weather.  
  
At first it all looked much more exciting, she remembered. When she got the opportunity to work in the embassy she couldn’t believe she had been so lucky. Working to improve international and regional security and to help to protect human rights in China sounded like an amazing opportunity, one nobody would let get away.  
  
A few years later she wouldn’t say she regretted it. To be absolutely honest, it had been indeed an amazing experience and it looked great on her CV, but it was now quite obvious that she wasn’t going to get a promotion any time soon and she was tired of being bossed around by her male colleagues.  
  
She missed her family and her old friends, and much to her surprise, she also missed the British weather. Even in the crowded streets of Beijing sometimes she felt so alone and so far away from home that it made her heart ache. She had started to wonder what would have happened if she had stayed in London, if she would had been happier there or if she would have lived regretting a missed chance of doing something special.

 

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation: “Gei ni qian, xie xie.” meaning is "Here is the money, thank you"


	6. A Tale of Two Brothers (Danny)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The always lovely fififolle helped with beta duties and common sense, all remaining mistakes are mine.

 

Danny whirled the wheel abruptly to the left and drove into the main road.  A thud and some swearing told him that Patrick hadn’t managed to hold on to anything and had crashed against the car door in the back. Good, he thought, he deserved it, after all they were in that mess because of him.  
  
Danny had told him the car was too distinctive to sell it easily and that it was too risky to steal it just to scrap it and sell the pieces, but Patrick hadn’t listened. The idea of stealing such beauty had already got into his head and Danny knew it was impossible to convince him to change his mind. If he hadn’t helped him, Patrick would have done it alone anyway and even though he was good at hot-wiring cars, he wasn’t as good at running from the police. That was Danny’s speciality.  
  
“They are still after us!” Patrick yelled.  
  
“Hey! Don’t distract the driver!” Danny shouted back while whirling to the right.  
  
He heard another thud and grinned. His little brother deserved that and more and once they got out of this he was going to give him an epic scolding for being such an idiot. Danny knew he wasn’t going to be able to stay mad at Patrick for too long though, especially if he gave him the kicked puppy look, but he had to try to make him understand that he had to be more careful. He was scared of the idea that someday they would send Patrick to jail, he didn’t want to think what that would do to him.  
  
Danny knew he was too protective, but all they had was each other and it had been like that for many years now. He had always been there to get him out of trouble and Patrick had always looked up to him, especially since that day in the abandoned house, when something terrible had almost happened. He didn’t like to think about it. Hell, he wasn’t even sure what had happened there, all he knew was that if it hadn’t been for that woman who told him to run to the old house if he wanted to save his brother, he wouldn’t have arrived in time to drag Patrick away from those things.  
  
Danny sped around a corner and took a moment to appreciate the quality of the car. It was a damn good car, Patrick had been right about that, but he was too reckless and that wasn’t good in a business like theirs.  
  
A look at the rear-view mirror let him know that his crazy driving had finally left the police behind so he eased his foot off the accelerator and tried to find a good place to hide the car, at least for a few minutes, until they could decide what to do next.  
“It took you long enough to lose them.”  
  
Danny huffed and glanced at his brother, who was grinning widely.  
  
“You are so lucky that your brother is an excellent driver,” Danny answered. “And a very patient man!”  
  
He kept looking for a safe place while his brother's hearty laughs echoed in the car.

 

.


	7. The Maiden and The Dragon (Abby)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to the wonderful fredbassett for the beta and cheering.

 

Abby Maitland didn’t have any regrets in her short life. She was in her twenties, she was happy and had a job she loved, so she thought she had done pretty well, all things considered. Well, there was nothing that kept her awake at night, really, but to be totally honest there were a few things that sometimes made her wonder what could have been.  
  
Rejecting that grant to study reptiles in the Galapagos Islands for a year was one of those things, but she couldn’t just go and leave her brother all alone. He was a pain in the arse, but he needed her around, even if he would never admit it. And what would have happened after that year, huh? No one could live off grants forever and she had just got her job in Wellington Zoo when she received the news.  
  
She knew she had probably just chosen the easy path, but she honestly didn’t regret it, not that much. She loved working at Wellington Zoo, even if her work didn’t always get the recognition she knew it deserved. It was a good place where the animals were well treated and that was something she had learnt it wasn’t as easy to find as people might think.  
  
There had been some rumours about cuts in the zoo programmes for a while, but when she confronted her boss about it he assured her that they had got the funds they needed to keep all of them going, including the reptile programme. He was a nice boss who had always given her freedom to work with the animals at her discretion and she was very grateful for that, too.  
  
It might not be the highest paid work in the world, but she was happy there and sometimes they even got exciting surprises, too, like that new lizard that had been collected by the zoo.  He was a beauty, but she couldn’t identify the species at all. Who said you have to work in the other side of the world to find an exotic species? Maybe even a new one? She would have to do some serious research, but she was going to find out where it had come from.

 

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	8. Lost Things (Lester)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to the wonderful fredbassett for the beta and cheering.

 

James Lester had had to ask for a personal favour from the Metropolitan Police and that hadn’t improved his already dark mood at all. He hated being indebted to anybody, especially to that idiotic commissioner, who spent more  time in political meetings than doing his work, but he had to make sure they were going to find it.  
  
Lester could hear the annoying voice of his ex-wife in his head, making fun of him for caring so much about his fancy sports car. It had been one of the things they had argued about in their last year together, but it hadn’t been the only one. She had said it was ridiculously expensive and had insisted he was having a midlife crisis. He had pointed out that her huge collection of designer shoes had probably cost more and had refused to give up the idea of buying the car.  
  
Finally they got divorced. She got the house and the shoes and he got the car and his sanity. Secretly he sometimes regretted buying such an expensive indulgence, but a man was allowed to enjoy life, wasn’t he? At least a part of it. His life was dull enough, having to fight bureaucracy every step of his way in the Home Office. He was stuck in an irrelevant post in the Immigration Department and his efforts to climb to a better place had failed miserably so far. And now some idiots had stolen his car.  
  
Lester didn’t want to leave the recovery of his property to the hypothetically good skills of the local police so he had asked for an extra help in the search for his car. It shouldn’t be very difficult, after all the two men had been caught on CCTV. They had even been chased by the police, a very spectacular chase around the city in which, to Lester’s horror, the crazy man that had been driving his car had almost crashed it a few times before it disappeared from the cameras. The police insisted they were close to getting them and they’d better be, because Lester wanted to recover what was his.

 

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	9. The Longest Chess Game (Bonus Helen)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to the wonderful fredbassett for the beta and cheering.

 

It had taken her a lot of planning to change the timeline just here and there, only enough to make it fit her new plan, but Helen was nothing if not determined. One miscalculation and she could have altered the world in ways impossible to fix, but she had been careful and had only poked lightly at the pawns on the board to scatter them or push them under her wing.  
  
Helen looked around from the top of the atrium in the ARC and felt quite proud. They were competent and inoffensive; she had made sure of that. Unfortunately that also meant that they were quite boring. Well, maybe not all of them, she thought when she saw Stephen walking towards the menagerie. She had worked very hard to get where she was and keeping Stephen by her side had been a bonus for all her efforts.  
  
Most of her plans had worked to her satisfaction, with very few exceptions. Danny Quinn had been easy, she had seen him nosing around the anomaly in the Brooks House for years, even before he met the ARC team and knew his story very well. On the other hand, when Helen had tried to push Abby away, she had failed incomprehensibly. She had created a grant just for Abby with funds from her other, more lucrative activities, and had tried to send her to the other side of the world, but surprisingly Abby had said: ‘No, thank you’.  
  
Helen hadn’t insisted. Poking at the timelines was dangerous and she had almost all the pieces of the board where she wanted them to be anyway.  As long as she could keep Connor on a leash, it would be enough, no matter how close Abby Maitland was living an absolutely normal life.  
  
There was still the problem of her ex-husband, of course. Nick had managed to run away with an anomaly opening device and he was proving difficult to catch, but she had absolutely discredited him, made him look like a lunatic and he had nobody to turn to. Well, nobody who would believe a word he said. She would love to see Nick trying to explain to anybody a story about dinosaurs, anomalies and alternate timelines.  
  
She let out a short laugh at the thought, and Lorraine, who was walking towards her office at that moment, turned to look at her with a curious expression on her face. Ms Wilkes was a very competent assistant and very discreet, something Helen really appreciated, but she hadn’t reacted at all to any of Helen’s subtle hints about a better, more luxurious life being possible for her. Not that it annoyed Helen specially, but it would have been nice to have some help inside the ARC, somebody that could cover her back when she had to go out to take care of other business. Old, greedy Leek would have been the obvious option there, but he had been one of those unexpected changes on the newly created timeline. He wasn’t working in the ARC any more, he wasn’t even in the country.  
  
When she had tried to locate Leek after she’d officially got the job at the ARC, she was surprised to find him in the United States, working for a pharmaceutical corporation. His background was totally different, but a thorough investigation of his activities let her know that at least he seemed to have kept his liking for money and his lack of scruples.  
  
In the end, the new Leek had proved to be more useful than a personal assistant could have ever been. An easily manipulable contact inside a ruthless and powerful corporation was way more productive than a slimy minion. Such a corporation would pay generously for rare specimens and new advanced technology and ask no questions, and Helen needed large amounts of money to keep running things freely. It wasn’t perfect, but she was careful about what she gave to them and it was definitely better than resorting to more extreme measures. As long as bribes worked, she wouldn’t be needing bullets.

 

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End file.
